Swimming at the 2024 Summer Olympics facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Swimming at the Games of the Olympiad
Pictures for swimming (top) and marathon swimming (bottom)
Venue	Paris La Défense Arena (pool) Pont Alexandre III (marathon)
Dates	27 July – 4 August 2024 (pool) 8–9 August 2024 (marathon)
No. of events	37 (18 men, 18 women, 1 mixed)
← 2020 2028 →

Swimming at the 2024 Summer Olympics was a big part of the games in Paris, France. Swimmers competed from July 27 to August 9, 2024. The pool events were held at the Paris La Défense Arena. The exciting open-water marathon swims took place in the Seine River near Pont Alexandre III.

Swimming Events

There were 37 different swimming events at the Paris 2024 Olympics. This included 18 events for men, 18 for women, and one mixed event where men and women swim together. Two of these events were 10-kilometer (about 6.2 miles) open-water races, also known as marathon swimming.

All pool events were held in a long-course pool (50 meters long). Here are the types of races:

• Freestyle: 50, 100, 200, 400, 800, and 1500 meters.
• Backstroke: 100 and 200 meters.
• Breaststroke: 100 and 200 meters.
• Butterfly: 100 and 200 meters.
• Individual Medley: 200 and 400 meters. In these races, swimmers use all four strokes.
• Relays: Teams of four swimmers competed in 4 × 100 meter freestyle, 4 × 200 meter freestyle, and 4 × 100 meter medley relays. There were men's, women's, and mixed medley relays.
• Marathon: A 10-kilometer open-water race.

Schedule for Pool Events

The swimming schedule was spread out over nine days for the first time. This helped swimmers who competed in many different races. Morning sessions were for preliminary heats. Evening sessions featured the semifinals and finals, where medals were won.

How Swimmers Qualified

Swimmers and teams had to meet certain standards to qualify for the Olympics.

Individual Swimmers

To get into an individual event, swimmers needed to achieve specific times set by World Aquatics.

• If two swimmers from one country met the faster "Olympic Qualifying Time" (OQT), both could enter.
• If a swimmer met a slightly slower "Olympic Consideration Time" (OCT), they might still get a spot based on their world ranking.
• Countries that didn't have any swimmers meet these times could still send one male and one female swimmer.

Relay Teams

Sixteen teams competed in each relay event.

• The top three teams from the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in Japan automatically qualified.
• The next thirteen fastest teams from the 2023 and 2024 World Aquatics Championships also qualified.
• Swimmers who qualified for individual events could also swim in relays.

Open-Water Swimmers

Twenty-two swimmers competed in each 10-kilometer open-water race.

• The top three medalists from the 10 km races at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships qualified.
• The next thirteen best swimmers from the 2024 World Aquatics Championships in Qatar qualified.
• One swimmer from each of the five continents (Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe, Oceania) also got a spot.
• The host country, France, was guaranteed one spot if their swimmers didn't qualify otherwise.

Medal Summary

Here's a look at which countries won the most medals in swimming at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Medal Table

  *   Host nation (France)

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States	8	13	7	28
2	Australia	7	9	3	19
3	France*	4	1	2	7
4	Canada	3	2	3	8
5	Hungary	3	1	1	5
6	China	2	3	7	12
7	Italy	2	1	3	6
8	Sweden	2	0	0	2
9	Great Britain	1	4	0	5
10	Germany	1	1	1	3
11	South Africa	1	1	0	2
12	Ireland	1	0	2	3
	Netherlands	1	0	2	3
14	Romania	1	0	1	2
15	Greece	0	1	0	1
	Japan	0	1	0	1
17	Hong Kong	0	0	2	2
18	South Korea	0	0	1	1
	Switzerland	0	0	1	1
Totals (19 entries)		37	38	36	111

Men's Events

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
50 m freestyle details	Cameron McEvoy  Australia	21.25	Ben Proud  Great Britain	21.30	Florent Manaudou  France	21.56
100 m freestyle details	Pan Zhanle  China	46.40 WR	Kyle Chalmers  Australia	47.48	David Popovici  Romania	47.49
200 m freestyle details	David Popovici  Romania	1:44.72	Matt Richards  Great Britain	1:44.74	Luke Hobson  United States	1:44.79
400 m freestyle details	Lukas Märtens  Germany	3:41.78	Elijah Winnington  Australia	3:42.21	Kim Woo-min  South Korea	3:42.50
800 m freestyle details	Daniel Wiffen  Ireland	7:38.19 OR, ER	Bobby Finke  United States	7:38.75	Gregorio Paltrinieri  Italy	7:39.38
1500 m freestyle details	Bobby Finke  United States	14:30.67 WR	Gregorio Paltrinieri  Italy	14:34.55	Daniel Wiffen  Ireland	14:39.63
100 m backstroke details	Thomas Ceccon  Italy	52.00	Xu Jiayu  China	52.32	Ryan Murphy  United States	52.39
200 m backstroke details	Hubert Kós  Hungary	1:54.26	Apostolos Christou  Greece	1:54.82 NR	Roman Mityukov  Switzerland	1:54.85 NR
100 m breaststroke details	Nicolò Martinenghi  Italy	59.03	Adam Peaty  Great Britain Nic Fink  United States	59.05	Not awarded as there was a tie for silver.
200 m breaststroke details	Léon Marchand  France	2:05.85 OR, ER	Zac Stubblety-Cook  Australia	2:06.79	Caspar Corbeau  Netherlands	2:07.90
100 m butterfly details	Kristóf Milák  Hungary	49.90	Josh Liendo  Canada	49.99 NR	Ilya Kharun  Canada	50.45
200 m butterfly details	Léon Marchand  France	1:51.21 OR, NR	Kristóf Milák  Hungary	1:51.75	Ilya Kharun  Canada	1:52.80 NR
200 m individual medley details	Léon Marchand  France	1:54.06 OR, ER	Duncan Scott  Great Britain	1:55.31	Wang Shun  China	1:56.00
400 m individual medley details	Léon Marchand  France	4:02.95 OR	Tomoyuki Matsushita  Japan	4:08.62	Carson Foster  United States	4:08.66
4 × 100 m freestyle relay details	United States Jack Alexy (47.67) Chris Guiliano (47.33) Hunter Armstrong (46.75) Caeleb Dressel (47.53) Ryan Held Matt King	3:09.28	Australia Jack Cartwright (48.03) Flynn Southam (48.00) Kai Taylor (47.73) Kyle Chalmers (46.59) William Yang	3:10.35	Italy Alessandro Miressi (48.04) Thomas Ceccon (47.44) Paolo Conte Bonin (48.16) Manuel Frigo (47.06) Lorenzo Zazzeri Leonardo Deplano	3:10.70
4 × 200 m freestyle relay details	Great Britain James Guy (1:45.09) Tom Dean (1:45.28) Matt Richards (1:45.11) Duncan Scott (1:43.95) Jack McMillan Kieran Bird	6:59.43	United States Luke Hobson (1:45.55) Carson Foster (1:45.31) Drew Kibler (1:45.12) Kieran Smith (1:44.80) Brooks Curry Blake Pieroni Chris Guiliano	7:00.78	Australia Maximillian Giuliani (1:45.99) Flynn Southam (1:45.53) Elijah Winnington (1:45.19) Thomas Neill (1:45.27) Kai Taylor Zac Incerti	7:01.98
4 × 100 m medley relay details	China Xu Jiayu (52.37) Qin Haiyang (57.98) Sun Jiajun (51.19) Pan Zhanle (45.92) Wang Changhao	3:27.46	United States Ryan Murphy (52.44) Nic Fink (58.97) Caeleb Dressel (49.41) Hunter Armstrong (47.19) Charlie Swanson Thomas Heilman Jack Alexy	3:28.01	France Yohann Ndoye-Brouard (52.60) Léon Marchand (58.62) Maxime Grousset (49.57) Florent Manaudou (47.59) Clément Secchi Rafael Fente-Damers	3:28.38 NR
10 km open water details	Kristóf Rasovszky  Hungary	1:50:52.7	Oliver Klemet  Germany	1:50:54.8	Dávid Betlehem  Hungary	1:51:09.0

Women's Events

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
50 m freestyle details	Sarah Sjöström  Sweden	23.71	Meg Harris  Australia	23.97	Zhang Yufei  China	24.20
100 m freestyle details	Sarah Sjöström  Sweden	52.16	Torri Huske  United States	52.29	Siobhán Haughey  Hong Kong	52.33
200 m freestyle details	Mollie O'Callaghan  Australia	1:53.27 OR	Ariarne Titmus  Australia	1:53.81	Siobhán Haughey  Hong Kong	1:54.55
400 m freestyle details	Ariarne Titmus  Australia	3:57.49	Summer McIntosh  Canada	3:58.37	Katie Ledecky  United States	4:00.86
800 m freestyle details	Katie Ledecky  United States	8:11.04	Ariarne Titmus  Australia	8:12.29 OC	Paige Madden  United States	8:13.00
1500 m freestyle details	Katie Ledecky  United States	15:30.02 OR	Anastasiya Kirpichnikova  France	15:40.35 NR	Isabel Marie Gose  Germany	15:41.16 NR
100 m backstroke details	Kaylee McKeown  Australia	57.33 OR, =OC	Regan Smith  United States	57.66	Katharine Berkoff  United States	57.98
200 m backstroke details	Kaylee McKeown  Australia	2:03.73 OR	Regan Smith  United States	2:04.26	Kylie Masse  Canada	2:05.57
100 m breaststroke details	Tatjana Smith  South Africa	1:05.28	Tang Qianting  China	1:05.54	Mona McSharry  Ireland	1:05.59
200 m breaststroke details	Kate Douglass  United States	2:19.24 AM	Tatjana Smith  South Africa	2:19.60	Tes Schouten  Netherlands	2:21.05
100 m butterfly details	Torri Huske  United States	55.59	Gretchen Walsh  United States	55.63	Zhang Yufei  China	56.21
200 m butterfly details	Summer McIntosh  Canada	2:03.03 OR, WJ, AM	Regan Smith  United States	2:03.84 NR	Zhang Yufei  China	2:05.09
200 m individual medley details	Summer McIntosh  Canada	2:06.56 OR, WJ, NR	Kate Douglass  United States	2:06.92	Kaylee McKeown  Australia	2:08.08
400 m individual medley details	Summer McIntosh  Canada	4:27.71	Katie Grimes  United States	4:33.40	Emma Weyant  United States	4:34.93
4 × 100 m freestyle relay details	Australia Mollie O'Callaghan (52.24) Shayna Jack (52.35) Emma McKeon (52.39) Meg Harris (51.94) Olivia Wunsch Bronte Campbell	3:28.92 OR	United States Kate Douglass (52.98) Gretchen Walsh (52.55) Torri Huske (52.06) Simone Manuel (52.61) Abbey Weitzeil Erika Connolly	3:30.20 AM	China Yang Junxuan (52.48) Cheng Yujie (52.76) Zhang Yufei (52.75) Wu Qingfeng (52.31) Yu Yiting	3:30.30 AS
4 × 200 m freestyle relay details	Australia Mollie O'Callaghan (1:53.52) Lani Pallister (1:55.61) Brianna Throssell (1:56.00) Ariarne Titmus (1:52.95) Jamie Perkins Shayna Jack	7:38.08 OR	United States Claire Weinstein (1:54.88) Paige Madden (1:55.63) Katie Ledecky (1:54.93) Erin Gemmell (1:55.40) Anna Peplowski Simone Manuel Alex Shackell	7:40.86	China Yang Junxuan (1:54.52) Li Bingjie (1:55.05) Ge Chutong (1:57.45) Liu Yaxin (1:55.32) Tang Muhan Kong Yaqi	7:42.34
4 × 100 m medley relay details	United States Regan Smith (57.28) OR Lilly King (1:04.90) Gretchen Walsh (55.03) Torri Huske (52.42) Katharine Berkoff Emma Weber Alex Shackell Kate Douglass	3:49.63 WR	Australia Kaylee McKeown (57.72) Jenna Strauch (1:07.31) Emma McKeon (56.25) Mollie O'Callaghan (51.83) Iona Anderson Ella Ramsay Alexandria Perkins Meg Harris	3:53.11	China Wan Letian (59.81) Tang Qianting (1:05.79) Zhang Yufei (55.52) Yang Junxuan (52.11) Wang Xue'er Yu Yiting Wu Qingfeng	3:53.23
10 km open water details	Sharon van Rouwendaal  Netherlands	2:03:34.2	Moesha Johnson  Australia	2:03:39.7	Ginevra Taddeucci  Italy	2:03:42.8

Swimmers who participated in the heats only and received medals.

Mixed Events

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
4 × 100 m medley relay details	United States Ryan Murphy (52.08) Nic Fink (58.29) Gretchen Walsh (55.18) Torri Huske (51.88) Regan Smith Charlie Swanson Caeleb Dressel Abbey Weitzeil	3:37.43 WR	China Xu Jiayu (52.13) Qin Haiyang (57.82) Zhang Yufei (55.64) Yang Junxuan (51.96) Tang Qianting Pan Zhanle	3:37.55 AS	Australia Kaylee McKeown (57.90) Joshua Yong (58.43) Matthew Temple (50.42) Mollie O'Callaghan (52.01) Iona Anderson Zac Stubblety-Cook Emma McKeon Kyle Chalmers	3:38.76 OC

Swimmers who participated in the heats only and received medals.

New Records Set

Many amazing records were broken during the swimming events at the 2024 Paris Olympics!

World Records

These are the fastest times ever recorded in these events, anywhere in the world.

Date	Round	Event	Time	Name	Nation
31 July	Final	Men's 100 metre freestyle	46.40	Pan Zhanle	China
3 August	Final	Mixed 4 × 100 metre medley relay	3:37.43	Ryan Murphy (52.08) Nic Fink (58.29) Gretchen Walsh (55.18) Torri Huske (51.88)	United States
4 August	Final	Men's 1500 metre freestyle	14:30.67	Bobby Finke	United States
4 August	Final	Women's 4 × 100 metre medley relay	3:49.63	Regan Smith (57.28) Lilly King (1:04.90) Gretchen Walsh (55.03) Torri Huske (52.42)	United States

Olympic Records

These are the fastest times ever recorded specifically at the Olympic Games.

Date	Round	Event	Established for	Time	Name	Nation
27 July	Semifinal 1	Women's 100 metre butterfly	(same)	55.38	Gretchen Walsh	United States
27 July	Final	Women's 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay	(same)	3:28.92	Mollie O'Callaghan (52.24) Shayna Jack (52.35) Emma McKeon (52.39) Meg Harris (51.94)	Australia
27 July	Final	Men's 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay	Men's 100 metre freestyle	46.92	Pan Zhanle	China
28 July	Final	Men's 400 metre individual medley	(same)	4:02.95	Léon Marchand	France
29 July	Final	Women's 200 metre freestyle	(same)	1:53.27	Mollie O'Callaghan	Australia
30 July	Final	Women's 100 metre backstroke	(same)	57.33	Kaylee McKeown	Australia
30 July	Final	Men's 800 metre freestyle	(same)	7:38.19	Daniel Wiffen	Ireland
31 July	Final	Men's 200 metre butterfly	(same)	1:51.21	Léon Marchand	France
31 July	Final	Women's 1500 metre freestyle	(same)	15:30.02	Katie Ledecky	United States
31 July	Final	Men's 200 metre breaststroke	(same)	2:05.85	Léon Marchand	France
1 August	Final	Women's 200 metre butterfly	(same)	2:03.03	Summer McIntosh	Canada
1 August	Final	Women's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay	(same)	7:38.08	Mollie O'Callaghan (1:53.52) Lani Pallister (1:55.61) Brianna Throssell (1:56.00) Ariarne Titmus (1:52.95)	Australia
2 August	Final	Women's 200 metre backstroke	(same)	2:03.73	Kaylee McKeown	Australia
2 August	Final	Men's 200 metre individual medley	(same)	1:54.06	Léon Marchand	France
3 August	Semifinal 2	Women's 50 metre freestyle	(same)	23.66	Sarah Sjöström	Sweden
3 August	Final	Women's 200 metre individual medley	(same)	2:06.56	Summer McIntosh	Canada
4 August	Final	Women's 4 × 100 metre medley relay	Women's 100 metre backstroke	57.28	Regan Smith	United States

See also

In Spanish: Natación en los Juegos Olímpicos de París 2024 para niños

• Swimming at the 2024 Summer Paralympics